


Hope Shattered

by Slaskia



Series: Astral Aligned Continuity [17]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Dead People, Gen, Guilt, Reflection, Regret, implied unethical experiementation, story addon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-11 02:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15305304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slaskia/pseuds/Slaskia
Summary: Wheeljack and explore the lab Nightfire and the seeker twins were trapped in.





	Hope Shattered

**Author's Note:**

> This is an addon to 'A Thread Prepared' (starting at the later part of chap 9, during Skywarp's PoV).
> 
> I don't know yet if this will be 'officially' part of the 'Wreckers & Sirens' series, just yet.

The walls and floors were all a light grey, pristine, clean and unsullied.  Yet Wheeljack felt his protoform crawling with revulsion and disgust, as if it was trying to get away from something very unclean, unnatural even.  Looking back at Bulkhead and a few other Wreckers that had joined him in this place, they felt the same way.  They were all tense, weapons out and ready for anything. 

To think Ebonscream was right about the Quintessons. 

A shudder passed through his frame, recalling the many arguments he and Ebonscream had over them.  How Ebonscream wanted to exercise caution, for they may be the bigger threat than the Sirens ever were. Fraggit it he was right, if what Nightfire told them was really true! 

His thoughts went to that strange bot they just meet.  There was something about him, something he couldn’t quite place.  Nightfire looked like a bike frame, but he was almost twice the height of a normal one.  Frag, bike frames typically only reached his chest, yet Wheeljack found he only came up to this bot’s chest.

His coloration…was almost exactly like Ebonscreams.  Just red accents instead of silver. OK, optics were pale blue instead of cherry red.   Come to think of it, those optics reminded him of… 

_No, I will not!_   He did not want to think about _that_ one.  The one that caused the big one.  That caused him to say those things to Ebonscream.  Things that made Ebonscream disappear….  

The weight of Ebonscream’s sabers on his back felt very heavy…. 

He shook his head, forcing himself to focus on the route they needed to take in this maze of a place.  Fortunately, any traps on this route were already destroyed or disabled by Nightfire and the two seekers that had been trapped in here.  They probably were only able to due to how knowledgeable Nightfire was on how Quintesson labs were set up. 

Nightfire had mentioned the Quintessons put him through a long period pain and suffering.  That would explain his knowledge on their activities and labs.  Including knowing their language.  It Also explained his clear hatred for the Quintessons. 

Yet he can’t shake the feeling he _knew_ Nightfire somehow.  His color scheme…his appearance.  How he spoke even seemed familiar, as if it was how Ebonscream would have sounded if he didn’t have an accent.  It bugged the Pit out of him! 

The other thing that bugged him, was how Nightfire reacted to is fellow Wrecker’s reaction to the news of what the Quintessons were using this lab for.  He had told them it was being used to find a way to create more of them, without using the AllSpark.  It had shocked and disgusted all of them, but the comments the others were making in response…. 

It was hurting Nightfire.  Wheeljack could tell, despite the bot trying to hide it. He knew Ebonscream would not have approved of such talk, thus why he shut them up before it got even darker.  Yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling Nightfire’s reaction was important.  He bot had also sounded a bit hesitant and careful on how he worded his statement that caused the comments in the first place. 

Like he was trying to avoid implying _he_ was one such creation. 

It left an uncomfortable feeling in Wheeljack’s tank. 

His attention was brought back to the here and now.  They had arrived at the room Nightfire told them to document first.  The room itself was dark, but there was light.  Light coming from rows upon rows of preservation tanks. 

This was the tank room the seeker Thundercracker told them about….and they were indeed full of Cybertronian bodies. 

“By the AllSpark….” He heard Kup mutter.  “Those bastards….” 

“We…,” Wheeljack gasped.  “We may need Hammercircuit for this….” 

“Let’s clear this place of possible threats before brining anyone else in, Jackie,” Kup advised. 

Wheeljack numbly nodded with agreement as he reluctantly started walking deeper into the room. 

What was it Thundercracker called this place?  Lab of Horrors?  Very fitting.  Wheeljack had a strong constitution, but he could feel his tank roil at the sight of some of bodies in those tanks.  It got _slightly_ better when the bodies became less mutilated and more just disturbing.  Spark chambers exposed, but empty.  Then said chambers fused to another bots, forcefully melded together. 

Sickening.  Just sickening.  From the look on a couple of his group’s faces, they were about to lose their lunch. 

Then they found the Quintesson bodies.  Well, he was _assuming_ they were Quintesson, considering they were obviously not Cybertronian.  One was fairly intact, but looked like it was stabbed multiple times.  The other…Primus…it was torn to pieces.  

He heard someone behind him purge. 

The floor around both was covered in yellow preservation fluid from a broken tank, though much of it was now tainted more a greenish hue due to the blood of the Quintessons.  By the broken tank were two the Cybertronian bodies, the impact with the floor having broken their fused chambers apart.  It also allowed them to see the bot’s faces clearly:  twisted in agony and fear upon death. 

Just thinking of the pain these bots had to endure…nearly made him purge himself. 

“Oh no….” 

It was Bulkhead, his tone sounding grave. 

“What is it?” Wheeljack asked, turning toward him. 

The larger Wrecker was already in front of him, blocking his view form whatever he saw.  “You don’t want to see this, Jackie,” Bulkhead told him, his expression grim. 

That feeling he was getting in his tank was one that told him he really needed to see it.  “Bulk, you seriously think it could be worse what I’ve already seen?” he told him, trying to get around him. 

“Primus….” That was Kup.  He could just see him behind Bulkhead, looking up at one of the other tanks.  “I agree with Bulkhead, kid…you don’t want to see this….” 

“Like the Pit I don’t!”  Wheeljack growled, finally getting past Bulkhead. 

Then he looked. 

And wished he hadn’t. 

_Ebony…._  

Floating in the tank, spark chamber fused to the Siren he had caught him with that one day.  Their frames the color of death…. 

Wheeljack felt his legs give out, sending him to his knees. 

Orns they had searched…hoping… _praying_ …Ebonscream was still alive.  All this time, vorns later…Wheeljack had only kept his guilt at bay on that slim hope.  A hope that was now shattered.  The sabers on his back…now felt like they weighed as much as the moons of Cybertron. 

“No….” His voice was barely a squeak as he leaned forward, his hands planting against the glass of the tank.  “I’m sorry….”  His optics clouded up as he looked up at the body.  “I didn’t mean it….” 

“Jackie?” 

Someone was talking to him, but he didn’t care.

“I didn’t mean it…,” Wheeljack repeated, resting his forehead against the glass now.  “I didn’t mean it….” 

He kept repeating that, over and over again….


End file.
